[geocentrism] Re: For Martin
- From: "Jack Lewis" <jack.lewis@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <geocentrism@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:02:50 +0100
Dear Steven and Martin,
I have always been puzzled why music wasn't written on 6 staves since there are
12 notes. Could it be that music has evolved from the simple tones to the more
complex? If 6 staves were used would it not make playing different keys easier?
Jack
----- Original Message -----
From: Martin G. Selbrede
To: geocentrism@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 9:28 PM
Subject: [geocentrism] Re: For Martin
Dear Steven,
Well, I can say that my piano has drifted off of Western equal temperament,
so compositions for it that I wrote using Western tonality have jumped the
track into the world of microtonality. I do plan, however, to remedy this with
a nice tuning. The biggest barrier to moving toward, say, the 17-degree scale
is I'm not sufficiently motivated to learn Sanskrit.
However (in the interest of full disclosure), my Opus 16 (which was, in fact,
performed publicly) did include a brief section that would have made Penderecki
proud. I was aware of his works, particularly Threnody for the Victims of
Hiroshima, and so in my composition the string orchestra indulges in such
non-Western dissonance for nearly a full minute (this occurring in a piece that
lasts about 38 minutes in concert performance). And that's about it, folks.
I could have sworn that I had mentioned to you the research conducted by
Ernest Ansermet about the geometry of the cochlear spiral in the inner ear --
that its curvature is based on the log of 12. Ansermet's conclusion was that
the human ear naturally divides an octave into twelve parts. Since the
cochlear spirals of other mammals are curved differently, such creatures may
discern such music as alien gibberish. If one were to truly test animals for
musical aptitude, the scale should be subdivided based on a specific animal's
cochlear spiral geometry and music then created within that customized tonal
architecture. If the animal responds to that, and not to music based on other
scale divisions, we'd have some empirical support for Ansermet's theory that
would be nearly unassailable.
Martin
On Sep 19, 2007, at 3:08 PM, Steven Jones wrote:
Dear Martin,
just wondering if you're interested in other tonalities besides western and
whether you've ever explored any of them in your own compositions?
--
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Martin G. Selbrede
Chief Scientist
Uni-Pixel Displays, Inc.
8708 Technology Forest Place, Suite 100
The Woodlands, TX 77381
281-825-4500 main line (281) 825-4507 direct line (281) 825-4599 fax
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mselbrede@xxxxxxxxxxxxx / martin.selbrede@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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